


To become oneself

by Anonymous



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dysfunctional Family, F/F, Family Drama, M/M, Multi, Post-Canon, Queer Themes, Self-Discovery, i refer to the sohmas as cousins and then proceed to ship them together, just like the english localizations taught me to
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:00:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24545023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: It's never too late to start anew and find new facets of yourself.  It's never too late to figure things out.  Kureno's learning that now -- and as it turns out, so is just about everyone else.[hazy post-canon au, but with wildly different fanon ships as endgame; massive allusions to and mentions of manga spoilers and ending.]
Relationships: Hanajima Saki/Uotani Arisa, Honda Tohru/Sohma Rin, Kuragi Machi/Toudou Kimi, Sohma Hatsuharu/Sohma Momiji, Sohma Hiro/Sohma Kisa, Sohma Kagura/Sohma Ritsu, Sohma Kureno & Sohma Kagura, Sohma Kureno & Sohma Ritsu, Sohma Kureno & Uotani Arisa, Sohma Kureno/Sohma Shigure, Sohma Kyou/Sohma Yuki
Comments: 10
Kudos: 21
Collections: Anonymous





	To become oneself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, MAJOR warnings for manga spoilers of ending resolutions of characters' arcs and fates and relationships etc in this fic!
> 
> anyway, canon ships are perfectly fine of course, but what is fandom for if not to explore and experiment and transform canon as we each see fit? I tagged all the pairings that crop up, because I plan on approaching this as an ensemble piece... but it's also supposed to be a very kureno centric fic, because I love him. also, I just wanted to write shigure/kureno long-ish fic, lmao.
> 
> I have a persisting and thorough headcanon about lesbian!kagura, but I'll wait to share the details once I actually write about her plotline, whenever I wander back to update. there are in fact a couple of specific headcanons I want to explore with this story, but I don't want to give too many things away by telling you vs showing you. so until next time, I suppose.

The day things strangely and irrevocably changed, Kureno hadn't been expecting anyone. He, like usual, had been planning to spend all day out back in his failing garden, puttering around with a small gardening guide book and trying to do damage control on the plant carnage brought on by his complete lack of previous experience. The gardening book had been gifted to him by Kagura, who apparently had bummed it from Kyo -- and it was actually Yuki's, apparently.

"Kyo says to not lose it, because Yuki doesn't know he gave it to _me_ ," Kagura had explained the last time she'd come over, regaling Kureno with the whole messy affair of borrowing things from their younger cousins. "And since Kyo didn't ask to borrow it, he says, and I quote, 'Yuki'll have my ass for this, so give it back ASAP,' but I'm betting that Yun won't _really_ mind if he finds out."

Kureno hadn't known how to reply to that, as Kagura made her way around his potted plants and attempt at a vegetable trellis. He merely experimentally shifted the weight of the book in his hands and said, "Is that so?"

Kagura had hummed lightly, poking at the wilting leaves of the herbs. "...Yikes, this is all in such a sorry state. Yuki would one hundred percent understand this plant crisis. Keep the book as long as you need. In fact, we'll just play a game, Kyo and me, and see how long it takes Yun to notice the book's gone!"

Kureno didn't... fully get his family, the ones that bothered to reach out to him nowadays. He was still figuring how that _worked,_ how to connect and co-exist with people who were all but strangers to him by this point, and vice versa. But he appreciated Kagura's in-person attempts to reconnect, which were often coupled with Ritsu tagging along to try to do the same. And he appreciated Kagura's attempts to get him involved with the others, by bringing him up and borrowing things on his behalf.

Still -- he was intentionally living off on his own, in the near middle of nowhere. He didn't expect frequent guests or attempts at outreach due to all the preexisting family drama that had plagued them, and the location of his new residence compounded that. And that was the entire point of his taking some of the sprawling Sohma land out here in the remote mountains and trying to live off the grid: space and time and peace, all cultivated and hoarded for himself. He did get the occasional letters and emails and phone calls from some of his family (though he suspected the joint messages and cards from Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo were really mostly authored and sent by Tohru). There was also the way Akito sent him monthly envelopes stuffed full of cash -- and Kureno needed to talk to someone about discussing wiring and direct deposit options with the family head, because extra _I'm sorry_ allowances in the mail were a nice sentiment, but definitely asking for trouble.

There was also Uo, who showed up now and again to spend time with him. She did so every few weeks or so when she could manage it, never letting more than three months go by without checking in when she was really busy. They texted and emailed more often than anything else, but whenever she did show up it was with food (from Tohru, Uo always clarified) so they could eat and chat. Uo would also make it a point to show him absurd social media things, or regale him on the weird business of trying to break into the modeling industry.

Lately, since she'd been busy and it was shaping up to be one of those three month stints, she had been sending him the food through specialty delivery apps, and they'd video chat while eating together. "How else am I supposed to make sure you're getting the proper nutritions, you airhead?" Uo often retorted angrily when Kureno pointed out that she was coddling him (not that he minded). Meanwhile, Hana was usually drifting around in the background, wandering around her and Uo's tiny apartment, only coming back to steal bites of food and say various non sequitur witticisms before settling down beside Uo to play whatever latest overly-cutesy mobile game she was into.

And it was nice. With Uo -- and with his cousins and Tohru -- it was a nice check in.

Kureno was out here in the semi-wilderness, trying to be rustic, trying to be one with nature -- and failing, honestly, but it wasn't a bad thing. He was trying his best, and that was enough. He was taking one day at a time, feeling a lifetime of stress and self restraint eke out of his bones. It was freeing and healing and half the time Kureno had to convince himself that it was okay for him to be taking this sort of self-indulgence as far as he had.

That self-indulgence usually led to things like spending far too much time outside in his backyard garden, no cell phone on him, no expectations of visitors, no care for the outside world. That was what he was doing this particular day when everything changed, and he only happened to come back inside for a moment because he'd left the watering can in the sink. And there the watering can was, exactly where he'd left it. But also -- there was someone at the door, he realized. Someone was incessantly knocking on his door.

Kureno frowned, caught off guard by the realization. He slowly made his way to the door, cane thumping audibly enough against the floor as he went that he felt no need to call out to his apparent visitor. Ritsu always prefaced her visits with apologies and by checking his schedule. Kagura was less courteous and more apt to charge right ahead with it, but she would at least call the day before -- and anyway Kureno knew her semester schedule. Kagura had class today and early tomorrow morning, so it couldn't be her. Uo was loaded down with work and auditions and wouldn't overnight him food without fully intending to video chat with him. She would have told him to expect a delivery and to be ready for a virtual lunch or dinner date.

There were just not that many people who would visit Kureno without an explicit reason for it, and therefore not without contacting him first -- and even those who would usually tried to respect his current preference for hermit living. Maybe it was Ayame, Kureno surmised as he used his chin to one-handedly pull off his gardening gloves and tossed them on the shoe cabinet by the front door. Ayame or Momiji maybe would spontaneously visit the more distant members of the former zodiac on whims of catching up.

But when Kureno, in overalls and one of Kagura's thrown out flannel shirts from her attempted butch phase a month ago, the straw sunhat with a bright red ribbon trailing off it that Ritsu had lent him still perched upon his head, opened the door, there on his doorstep was Shigure.

Kureno stared, brain stalling. Words failing him. Shock numbing him from the inside out. Because why would Shigure -- who hated him -- who had gotten everything that he'd wanted and never had to talk to anyone he didn't want to ever again -- which _definitely_ included Kureno -- be here on Kureno's overgrown doorstep?

Shigure, likely knowing exactly what Kureno was thinking (a panicked and unsure litany of _what_ and _why_ ), merely smiled, soft yet dangerous, joking yet flat. "Cute ribbon," Shigure said lightly, reaching over to tug at it. "Matches your hair. Can I come in?"


End file.
